Carr hawks class sizes to the end

By Linda DohertyMarch 22 2003

A confident Premier Bob Carr spent his last day on the hustings yesterday hammering Labor's key election theme of education, and savaging Opposition proposals to cut back funding for community services to help pay for its poll promises.

Wrapping up the Labor campaign ahead of today's poll, Mr Carr used a school visit to contrast Labor's pledge to cut class sizes with the Opposition's plan to axe $659 million earmarked for "battered wives and kids".

He said the centrepiece and most expensive of the Government's election promises was the $329 million to reduce class sizes in the early years of school, which he claimed had "captured the attention of electors".

The policy for "the education election" would be funded from projected Budget surpluses and did not rely on cutting the number of Department of Community Services frontline officers, he said.

On Thursday the Opposition said it would cut $659 million from the $1.1 billion funding boost to DOCS announced by the Government in December.

The opposition treasury spokesman, George Souris, conceded that the Coalition would hire only 200 of the 1000 frontline DOCS officers promised by the Government.

Mr Carr said: "The alternative government is saying their class size reductions only go ahead by abandoning a plan to lift child protection. The Opposition has got a plan to cut welfare services, which means services for battered wives and battered kids. Our plan reduces class sizes without cutting the number of frontline child protection workers."

The Minister for Community Services, Carmel Tebbutt, said half the new funding over five years would go to non-government organisations such as Barnardo's.

"John Howard says that Mr Brogden has got ticker. Well, he might have ticker, but he certainly doesn't have a heart," she said.

The chief executive of Barnardo's, Louise Voight, condemned the Opposition's welfare cuts and said its planned royal commission into DOCS would be "a waste of money".

Mr Carr rejected claims that the Government had been forced into the class-size policy after the Opposition announced a $550million policy in October.

But he acknowledged that the $1 million Vinson education inquiry, partly funded by the NSW Teachers Federation, had "initiated" the move for NSW to reduce class sizes in kindergarten to year 2.

Flanked by the Minister for Education, John Watkins, Mr Carr denied he had avoided being seen on the campaign trail with the beleaguered Minister for Transport, Carl Scully.

Mr Carr said that on the day Mr Scully announced spending of $192 million for 60 new trains he could not be there because he had a commitment in rural NSW.

With polls pointing to a decisive Labor victory, Mr Carr said he was unsure what impact the war in Iraq would have on voters.